


Love at First Hot Chocolate

by dannikathewomanika



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, M/M, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-17 07:28:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9311528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannikathewomanika/pseuds/dannikathewomanika
Summary: 18 year old Remus Lupin works at Starbucks. He hates it. He hates that he has to talk to people and be nice. He hates making coffee (although he doesn't mind the hot chocolate). But one day, Sirius Black walks in. For Remus, it's love at first sight. But does Sirius feel the same way?





	1. Chapter 1

Remus checked his watch and sighed. He was tired, and his head hurt, and he just wanted to go home and sleep. But there was still half an hour left in his shift, and he had no choice but to smile and be nice. Looking up, he saw a line of people waiting to order. He groaned and walked over, forcing a smile onto his face as he went. Half an hour later, just as he was getting ready to go, two teenage boys walked in. They seemed to be around 18, Remus' age, and talked and laughed loudly as they looked at the cookies and muffins. Remus looked around, hoping someone else would take the order, but Lily was on her break and Marlene wasn't here yet. He groaned.

"What can I get for you?" he sighed. The taller of the two boys gave him a worried look. He had messy black hair and hazel eyes framed by round glasses.

“You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What can I get you?" Remus repeated, more annoyed this time.

"Calm down." the boy looked a bit scared. "I'll get...uh...a smoked butterscotch latte and a blueberry scone. What do you want, Pete?"

The shorter boy, who was blonde and a tad pudgy, ordered a caramel macchiato and a butter croissante. Just then, Lily came back from her break. As soon as she saw the two boys her eyes widened.

“Shit.” she muttered under her breath as she tried to hurry by unnoticed while Remus made the drinks.

Unfortunately, the bespectacled boy saw her an immediately stood up straighter and ran his hand through his hair.

“Evans! Fancy meeting you here!”

Lily groaned. “You’re the last person I want to see, Potter.”

Potter gasped and clutched at his chest. “You’ve wounded me!”

Lily rolled her eyes and was about to say something when a loud voice distracted them all.

“Prongs! Wormy! How we doing today?” They all looked around to see who it was. Remus squinted but couldn't make out much of the boy’s face(he had left his glasses at home), Lily looked horrified, and the two customers greeted him noisily.

“Pads!” Potter pulled the new arrival into hug that, in Remus’ opinion, lasted a bit too long to be just friendly.

Just then, “Pads” spotted Lily. “Evans.” He said, a bit surprised. Lily pursed her lips.

“Why don't you just order, Black, and leave me alone.” she stormed off, leaving Remus to deal with these three on his own.

Remus, a bit confused, went to the register. As soon as he looked at “Pads”, or Black, or whatever his name was, he couldn't look away. The boy was gorgeous. He had a pale face, with high cheekbones and pale blue-grey eyes. His jet black hair was tied up in a bun, which Remus normally hated, but he pulled it off effortlessly. He was several inches shorter than Remus, who was 6 feet. Remus felt his heart flutter when the boy grinned up at him, the smile lighting up his entire face and making him almost too beautiful. And, like the other two, he seemed to be near Remus’s age.

Remus realized that he had been staring at the boy for too long and quickly looked away.

“What can I get you?”

“Pads” thought for a moment, then said, “I’d like a birthday cake pop, and a white hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. And could you add some cold milk? I don't like when my tongue gets burnt.” 

Remus snorted. “How old are you again?”

“I’ll be 18 in November.”

“Wow. You really are a child.” The other boy pouted. It was adorable. Fuck.

To distract himself, Remus grabbed a cup, then filled it with hot chocolate.

As he was giving it to Black, the other boy took a good look at Remus, smiled and said, “I’m Sirius Black. What’s your name?”

It took Remus a moment to remember how to talk. “Um, Remus. Remus Lupin.”

“Do you, by any chance have a particular love for dogs, or, more specifically, wolves?” Sirius was smirking a bit as he said this, probably thinking it was hilarious.

“Not really, no.” Remus answered. “Actually, I was attacked by a wolf as a child, so I would appreciate it if you didn't mention them too much.”

Finally, Marlene walked in. Remus picked up his coat, and, without another word, left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus finds out more about the boys he met at Starbucks.

When Remus got home, he went straight up to his room.

“Remus?” his mum called out, “Are you okay, honey?”

“Yeah mum, I’m fine. Just really tired.”

“Supper will be ready in twenty minutes.”

Remus shut the door. He loved his mom, but he didn’t want to have to tell her about his day just yet. He wanted some time to pull himself together and stop thinking about Sirius. He kept on wondering how Lily knew them. After a few minutes of this, he gave up speculating and decided to call her and ask.

She picked up on the third ring. “Hey Remmy.”

Remus groaned. “Must you?”

“Yes. Why were you calling?”

“I wanted to know how you knew those boys at Starbucks earlier.”

There was a moment of silence. “Lily?”

“Um… yeah. Well, you know how I went to that fancy boarding school in Scotland ‘till we were fifteen?”

“Yeah. What was it called, like, Pigfarts or something?”

Lily laughed. “Hogwarts. Anyway, those guys went there as well, and they were…something else.”

“What do you mean?”

“Potter and Black were always pulling pranks, and sometimes they were actually quite mean. And you know my friend Severus?”

“Yeah.” Remus nodded. When him and Lily had first become friends, she had introduced him to Severus Snape, who had been her best friend since childhood. Remus did his best to be nice to the other boy because he was Lily’s friend, but he didn't like him much. Snape seemed to be a bit obsessed with Lily, which bothered Remus. 

“Well, they hated him. Most of the worst pranks had to do with him.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…I thought I’d seen the last of them when I left Hogwarts, but apparently not.”

“What about the other boy, the blonde one?”

“That’s Peter Pettigrew. He kind of just hangs out around them and tries to help. It doesn't work.”

“Ok, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, but why did you want to know?”

“Just curious.”

“Okay…”

Remus heard his mum calling him down for supper. “I gotta go. Bye”

“Bye.”

All the rest of the evening, Remus tried and failed to stop thinking about Sirius Black, but the boy’s beautiful face kept appearing in his mind. He really hoped they got to meet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is my first time writing a fanfic that's longer than a page, so sorry if it's a bit boring or moving too slowly. I'll do my best to get things going in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Sirius have lunch together,and Remus finds out how Prongs got his nickname.

The next day, Remus was at work at 9am. It was summer, and since he had nothing better to do, he pretty much lived at Starbucks. Usually, though, he wasn't there quite this early. He was hoping Sirius would come by again, but when Lily asked what he was doing out so early, he just said that he felt full of energy today. Lily snorted.

“Sure, Remus. Whatever you say.”

After less than an hour, though, he started to really regret his decision. Normally he was still asleep at 9:45, not working his ass off making coffee and tea. No one ever ordered hot chocolate. Never. It was the only drink he actually liked making.

Around lunchtime, Lily, who was at the register, handed Remus a cup. “White hot chocolate, extra whipped cream, cold milk for sensitive tongues.” Remus frowned the order seemed familiar. He looked down at the cup and and immediately felt butterflies in his stomach. On the cup was the name Sirius Black. Remus’ eyes widened and he looked up. Right in front of him grinning, was Sirius.

“Hey.” He sounded almost flirtatious, but that couldn't be right, could it? Someone that gorgeous wouldn't be flirting with Remus, of all people.

“Hi.” said Remus, trying to keep his hands steady as he made the hot chocolate. “How are you?”

“You look exhausted.” Sirius ignored Remus’ question, which worried Remus, even though he barely knew Sirius. He decided not to comment on it, though, and passed Sirius his hot chocolate.

“Yeah…I got up too early today.”

“You need a break. Do you have a lunch break?”

“Yeah. Why?” Remus started making a new order, a cappuccino.

“You should eat lunch with me.” Remus dropped the can of coffee he was holding and took bit longer than necessary to pick it up, so that Sirius wouldn't see how red Remus’ face was.

“When he stood up again, Sirius was looking at him expectantly. “So? Will you have lunch with me?”

Remus cleared his throat. “Yeah, sure. Just a minute.”

He quickly informed Marlene that he was taking his lunch break, and could she please stop being so lazy and actually do some work? and then he went to find Sirius. 

The other boy was sitting at a table a little bit away from the rest. Remus sat down across from him. Sirius stared for a moment, then said, “Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

Remus blushed. “Right. Yes. I’ll be right back.”

A few minutes later, he came back with his tea and breakfast sandwich. “Are you satisfied?”

“Yes.” Sirius smiled.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Remus said tentatively, “Lily told me how she knew you guys. You know, from Hogwarts?”

“Yeah. Prongs always had the biggest crush on her. Used to say he was in love. After she left, he didn't talk about her much, but he was definitely pining.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Prongs?”

Sirius looked delighted that Remus had asked. “It’s a nickname I gave him!”

“I’m worried.”

“Yeah. You should be. See, Prongs always liked deer. And one time, in fourth year, we had this party, and he was really drunk. We all were, but he drank the most. I think Lily had just rejected him again. Anyway, so there was this guy Frank. Him and Lily were friends, and everyone knew they were just friends. But Prongs is and idiot. He saw Frank talking to her and got all jealous. So, instead of just going over there like a normal person would, Prongs convinced us to tape a couple of forks to his head, and he charged Barty and tried to stab him with the forks. He said they were his horns.” Sirius laughed. “He didn't hurt him or anything, but it was funny. Lily was so mad.”

Remus laughed. “That’s…an interesting story.”

“Oh yeah. Me and Pete have nicknames as well. I’m Padfoot and he’s Wormtail.”

Remus wanted to ask how they got those nicknames, but his lunch break as over. “I have to go. Thanks for the story.” He gave Sirius a smile.

“You’re welcome. Oh!” Remus turned around. “James’ parents are having a little party on the solstice, and they said we could invite some friends. Do you and Lily want to come.”

Remus blushed again. “Sure! I’d love to. I’ll see what Lils says.”

Sirius was overjoyed. “Perfect! Here’s my number.” He pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote a phone number on Remus’s arm. All Remus could think about was the feeling of Sirius’s hand holding his arm steady. “There you go! I’ll text you the address.”

“T-thanks.” Remus managed to stutter, and then he hurried back to the counter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus goes to the party at Sirius and James's house, both sets of parents are embarrassing, and Remus meets some of Sirius's friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took bit longer than usual. I'm almost done chapter 5, so it won't be as long a wait. Enjoy!

Remus knocked on Lily’s door.

“C’mon, Lily, I don’t have all day.”

Lily opened the door. “Jesus, Remmy, calm down. I know you're excited to see Sirius, but I still need to get ready.”

“He said we didn't have to dress nicely or anything.”

“How come you did, then?” Lily said, looking Remus up and down. Remus blushed. It was true, he had changed out of his usual jeans and t-shirt and into a pale blue button down tucked into almost new khakis. He had spent nearly an hour and turned his room upside down looking for his grey cardigan, which he found he couldn't button up, because it was missing three buttons.

“I just pulled something out of my drawer.” He stood up a bit straighter, as if that would help to make his point.

Lily laughed. “I know you like Sirius, but he has seen you in normal clothes. It’s not like it would be a surprise.”

Remus had no answer to that. He he pushed his glasses up his nose (Sirius always called them hipster glasses. Remus had tried to argue before realizing that Sirius was right) and stepped into Lily’s house. 

It had been two weeks since Remus had met Sirius. They ate lunch together almost every day, and Remus had started to think of these as dates, even though he knew he probably had no chance with Sirius. They quickly became close friends, and Sirius had told him about how awful his family was, how they were homophobic and abusive, how his younger brother, Regulus, had caught him kissing a boy and told their parents, how Sirius had been kicked out and had moved to James’s whose parents took him in and took care of him, and how his parents had disowned him recently. 

Remus had told Sirius all about the incident with the wolf, how when he was about nine, his parents had taken him on a vacation to B-C, in Canada, how, one day, when they were on a hike, a wolf, a small wolf, a cub really, but still plenty big enough to hurt a child, pounced on Remus, how even though his parents were able to save him and get him medical attention, he was left with two things that would stay with him for the rest of his life: a fear of wolves so bad he couldn’t even look at the wolf exhibit in a museum, and scars all over his chest, back, and arms, and one that was almost visible above his t-shirts, along his collarbone.

Remus had realized pretty quickly that he would do anything for Sirius, that he cared about the other boy a lot. Pretty soon after that, he realized that he might even love Sirius. The thought terrified him. He hated feeling vulnerable, and he hated that Sirius didn't feel the same way, and probably never would. 

Lily came downstairs then, interrupting Remus’s thoughts.

“Alright, I’m all ready.”

Remus looked at her. “And you said we didn't have to dress up.”

Lily was wearing a pretty green dress the colour of which perfectly matched her eyes, and she had put on a lot more makeup than she normally wore.

She smiled sweetly. “I just pulled something out of my drawer.”

Remus groaned. “Let’s just go.”

“Bye!” Lily called out to her parents as they left.

Remus’s parents had insisted on driving them, “to meet your new friend, honey”. When they pulled up at number 4 Diagon Alley, Remus and his parents gaped.

“Wo.” said Remus’s mum. “That’s quite the house.”

“Yeah…” Remus didn't really know what to say. It was too big to be a house. It was a mansion.

“You never told us he was rich.” Remus’s dad said.

“This is his friend’s house. I didn't know his friend was rich.”

All of a sudden, Remus saw Sirius step out of the house and wave at them. He waved back and started to get out when his dad said, “Is that your friend Sirius?”

“Yep.” Remus sighed. He had had high hopes of getting out of the car without being embarrassed by his parents, but he could see that wasn't going to happen.

“Sirius!” he called out. “My parents want to meet you!”

Sirius walked up to the car, just as Remus’s parents stepped out.

“Hi.” he said. “I’m Sirius.”

“I’m sure you are, young man.” Remus’s dad laughed at his own joke while the rest of them winced.

Remus’s mum held out her hand for Sirius to shake. “I’m Hope, Remus’s mom, and this is my husband Lyall. I’m sorry for his sense of humour.”

Sirius shrugged. “It’s okay. I get that sort of thing all the time.”

Remus prayed that his dad would stay silent for the next few minutes, until they could get inside. But he had no such luck.

“Well, Sirius, you seem like a nice boy. Remus really likes you, you know. Hasn't stopped talking about you for two weeks.”

Remus groaned and buried his face in his hands. Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Really? Well. That’s something.” Something in Sirius’s tone made Remus peek through his fingers. Sirius was smiling at him. Not a huge, all out grin, like he usually did, but a smaller smile, one that made Remus want to melt. He tentatively smiled back, blushing a little. Then, he noticed his dad open his mouth to say something and was filled with horror. Remus did not want to be embarrassed for the second time in as many minutes. Grabbing Lily by the hand and pulling her to the house, he shouted out a quick, “Bye Mum! Bye Dad!” and then stepped inside.

The house was enormous. He’d seen that from the outside, but it seemed even bigger now that he was standing in the doorway. He gulped and hesitated a moment, only going in when Sirius gave him a little shove in the back. Remus stumbled inside and immediately tripped over several pairs of shoes. He heard a laugh behind him and looked up at Sirius, ready to snap at him, but his voice caught in his throat.

He hadn't got a good look at Sirius earlier, what with his dad being, well, his dad, and now that he finally did, he couldn't look away. Sirius was standing with his back to Remus, talking to someone in the hallway. He was wearing a clean white t-shirt that somehow looked absolutely gorgeous on him. He was wearing black skinny jeans, but not like the skinny jeans he usually wore, which were baggy enough that he could move properly and ride his motorbike. Oh, no, these one were so tight Sirius must have found it difficult to move, but Remus didn't mind. Remus really didn't mind. Trying to tear his eyes away from Sirius’s ass, Remus looked at his hair. Usually it was in a bun or a ponytail, but today he had it down, and when he turned to face Remus, it framed his face beautifully. Remus realized then that he had been staring for almost a minute, and stood up. Standing up, it seemed, was a mistake, because he found himself face to face with Sirius.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sirius said, “Ahem, well, I’m, um…I’m glad you came.”

Remus nodded mutely.

“Come on, let me introduce you to everyone. The house was, in Remus’s opinion, full of people. Sirius called it “just a few friends”, and if this was only a few, Remus would hate to see what Sirius would call a lot. They wove their way through the people, Sirius introducing Remus to a few as they went. There were Molly and Arthur Weasley, with vibrant red hair, whose two small sons, Bill and Charlie, were apparently “running around somewhere”, there were the Lovegoods, Xenophilous and Pandora, who were a little bit odd, but very nice. There was Sirius’s cousin, Andromeda, her husband, Ted, and their little baby daughter, Nymphadora, who were the only family members of Sirius’s who were decent people. Actually, more than decent; Andromeda, or Andy, as she preferred to be called, was lovely, and Ted said that he was very pleased to meet Remus and that he hoped to get to know him better. They met countless other people as they looked for James’s parents. Finally, they found them in the kitchen.

“Fleamont, Euphemia, this is my friend Remus.” Sirius put his arm around Remus’s shoulders.

Euphemia was a tall woman, only a couple inches shorter than Sirius. She had the same messy black hair as James, but dark brown eyes instead of hazel. She shook Remus’s hand.

“So you’re Remus. We’ve heard about nothing but you for the past fortnight. Remus this and Remus that. Almost beats the amount of stories about Lily Evans. James says she’s warming up to him, actually. Speaking of Lily, wasn't she supposed to come tonight?”

Remus nodded. “Yeah, er, she did come, but she kind of just vanished at the door.”

James’s dad smiled. “Probably gone off with James. The two of them have been getting along wonderfully these past couple weeks.”

Remus frowned. Lily hadn't said anything about seeing James. Before he could ask, James’s dad said, “She’s a lovely girl. And from what her and Sirius told us, you’re lovely young man. We haven't seen him the happy in ages.”

Remus blushed a little, then caught sight of Sirius’s face, which had gone the colour of a tomato.

“C’mon, Remus,” Sirius said, steering Remus out of the room, “you should meet the other kids.”

As they walked through the house looking for James and Peter and, Remus assumed, a few other people their age, Remus asked Sirius why James’s parents had been talking about Lily like they knew her.

Sirius seemed confused. “Lily comes over almost every day. Her and Prongs are practically dating.” 

“Oh.”

Just then, Sirius opened a door and walked in. It was a bedroom, presumably James’s, and there were about seven or eight other kids in there. There were two small energetic ginger boys who Remus assumed were Bill and Charlie Weasley. Lounging on the bed was James, talking to Lily, who sitting on the floor playing with a Rubix Cube. Peter was sitting on the edge of the bed, occasionally joining in Lily and James’s conversation. There were two people who Remus didn't recognize, sitting squashed in a small armchair, and, to Remus’s great surprise, Marlene and her girlfriend, Dorcas were sitting on the floor, on their phones, looking mildly bored.

“What are you guys doing here?” he asked Marlene. She was about to respond when Lily interrupted. 

“Remus!” Lily waved from the floor. “So, James and I are friends now.”

“Yeah, thanks, I figured that out. I assume that has something to with Marls and Dorcas being here?”

James broke in. “No, actually. They know Frank and Alice a little bit, and Sirius-“ James stopped talking when Sirius shot him a murderous look.

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Sirius what?” he turned and looked at Sirius, trying not to laugh at the ridiculous blush on the other boy’s face. Sirius mumbled something inaudible.

“C’mon, Sirius, what was it?” Remus poked him in the stomach, and Sirius squealed. Everyone laughed, and Sirius looked so embarrassed that Remus decided not to bother him anymore.

Instead, Sirius introduced him to Frank Longbottom and Alice Forsecue. 

“Fortsecue?” Remus asked. “Like the ice cream place?”

Alice nodded. “My dad owns it.”

Frank grinned “Alice is going to own it one day, and she’s going to make me lots and lots of ice cream.”

Alice snorted “Only if you clean up after I make it.” Frank looked horrified at the prospect. “Exactly.” Alice said, looking very satisfied with herself.

A few minutes later, James left, saying he was going to get some food, and Lily followed him out of the room. A few minutes after that, Sirius suggested that he give Remus a tour of the house. Remus agreed, and they left.

They were about to go up a flight of stairs(Sirius’s room was apparently in the attic??), when they saw something very strange. James and Lily. First of all, they weren't downstairs getting food. Second of all, they were kissing. James and Lily, the last two people Remus had expected to see eating each other's faces off(that’s what it looked like, at any rate),were. Sirius looked at the stunned expression on Remus’s face and almost laughed, but then almost managed to stop himself from laughing, and produced a strange snorting noise. James and Lily looked around, red-faced, and hurried off without saying a word. As soon as they were out of earshot, Sirius said, “That took longer than I expected.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know what to say, so...The End.

“Longer?!” Remus didn't know what to say. “But…but they’ve barely known each other two weeks!”

“That’s where you're wrong. They've known each other since they were eleven. James has been in love with her since he was twelve.” 

“Ok, well, you have a point there. But Lily said she always hated you guys.”

“Yeah. I dunno. She seems to have warmed up to us.” Sirius opened a door at the top of the stairs, and him and Remus went in. 

Sirius’s room didn't look anything like what Remus was expecting. He’d imagined a dark man-cave with clothes all over the floor and an unmade bed in the corner, perhaps littered with the remains of various meals.

The room was actually quite lovely. The walls were a pale blue, and the hard wood floor was completely visible. Everything seemed to be very clean. The bed was neatly made, and there was no evidence that anyone had ever eaten up here. Remus was surprised, and rather impressed, until Sirius closed the door and he saw the overflowing laundry hamper and even more overflowing garbage can.

“Ah, there we go.” he smirked.

“What?” Sirius widens his eyes, trying to seem innocent. 

“I knew your room couldn't actually look like this, and look, here’s proof!” Remus pointed to the garbage and the laundry.

“Okay, you got me.” Sirius sighed. “I did a quick clean up before you came. Oh! There’s something I wanted to show you!” He opened the window and climbed out onto the roof. Remus followed him. While they had been inside, the it had slowly gotten darker, and now Remus and Sirius sat in silence as the sun set, until all that was left was a red glow on the horizon. 

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Remus asked Sirius the question he’d been dying to ask for the last two weeks.

“Why the solstice?”

“Hm?” Sirius gave him a weird look.

“Why did James’s parents have a party on the solstice? Was it just a random thing, or…?

“Oh! Yeah, I’m not sure why they do that. They do it every year. It’s mostly just for fun, I think. Although, you never know, there could be some big secret around it. Maybe all the adults are part of a secret organization, and they all have to meet up once a year.”

“Yeah! Maybe they’re all secret agents and the big evil guy was defeated on the summer solstice, so now every year they meet up and celebrate!”

“Or they haven't defeated him yet, and today is when he’s weakest, so they all gather together and try to destroy him!”

They continued talking about various reasons why the adults would meet on that particular day, and when they ran out of ideas, they sat in silence for a bit, looking at the clouds that drifted across the sky. Suddenly Sirius said, “So, I’ve been trying to think of a nickname for you. You know, so you can officially be part of the Marauders.” Sirius had told Remus a few days ago that him, James and Peter had called themselves The Marauders for years.

“What have you come up with?”

“Nothing so far. You’re quite difficult to make up a nickname for.”

“Yeah, I know. Lily’s tried. Many times.”

“Ooooh! What’s she come up with?!”

“Nothing I’m telling you, you idiot.” 

Remus said this with a fond smile on his face, which Sirius must have noticed because he didn't say anything for a moment, and it almost seemed like he was gathering his courage for something. Finally, he swallowed hard and said, “So, um, Remus.”

“Yes?” Remus tried to control the butterflies in his stomach.

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

“And that is…?

“Er…I really…um. Ireallylikeyou.” He was talking in a rush, as if he needed to get the words out. “I don't know if you feel the same way, and I’m sorry if you don’t,I know it might be really awkward for you, I just really wanted to put that out there.”

Remus sat stunned for a moment, unsure of what to say. He couldn't quite articulate what was going through his head, which was a confused jumble of “that’s impossible” and “does he really mean it?” and “there’s no way he really means it, is there?” and “maybe he does” and “I hope he does” and “he has such a beautiful face” and “I can’t imagine life without him” and one small part of his mind was yelling, “aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh” and an even smaller part was trying to figure out what Sirius’s reaction would be if Remus told the truth, or if he lied.

Eventually, Remus pulled himself together enough to whisper, “I really like you, too.” Apparently he whispered it loud enough for Sirius to hear, because as soon as he said it, the other boy smiled and took Remus’s hand. Remus turned to look him, and Sirius kissed him. It was a quick, chaste kiss, but Remus didn't think he could imagine anything more perfect. After a moment, Sirius pulled away, leaving Remus feeling slightly dazed. They lay back on the roof, right next to each other so that their sides were touching. Remus’s hand found Sirius’s and twined their fingers together.

They lay like that for a while, perfectly happy to be together. The wind blew the clouds away and revealed a full moon, shining brightly down on them. Remus, without thinking, sat up and howled at the moon.

“Aroooo! Ar-arooooooo!”

“Moony!” Sirius said, sounding as though he had been struck by sudden genius.

“What?” Remus gave him a bemused look.

“Moony. That’s your new nickname.”

“Why?”

“Cause you howled at the moon, obviously.”

“Jesus Christ.” Remus muttered.

“Yes, I am.” Sirius said cheerfully. Remus rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky. Sirius did the same. The moon shone down on the two boys as they lay down. Padfoot rested his head on Moony’s shoulder and Moony played with Padfood’s hair. It was that moment that Moony stopped being afraid of loving Padfoot, and let himself fall. And in that same moment, so quietly that Moony almost didn't hear it, Padfoot whispered something.

He whispered, “I love you.”


End file.
